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Week 01: Project Management

This week I worked on defining my final project idea, setting up GitLab, and my website. Then learn how to document my processes in GitLab using Terminal, and VS Code, and maintain my sanity. I was mostly successful.

Summary

It has been a real struggle for me. Since there are so many options to set up and populate our websites, I had difficulty finding consistent and reliable resources. I looked at documentation from previous students, but there were gaps in the process or different options for software. I had set up a GitHub repository a few months ago, but it was greatly different. I followed the tutorial document found through the Fab Academy, but it was very outdated. I had been warned that the documents are living documents, and will be marked if they are up to date.

Emotional and Physical Well Being

Bootcamp repeatedly warned that Fab Academy is extremely intense, and we need to take care of ourselves mentally and physically.

  • Pomodoro time management, which breaks work time into 25min chunks with short breaks
  • Emotional Checkins - being able to recognize and name your emotional state is key to managing it. I recognized the chart shown in bootcamp from "Permission to Feel," by Marc Brackett. I highly recommend this book, and howwefeel.org - this free emotional journaling app with helpful tips.

Mood Meter Mood Meter

Setting up my GitLab repository with an SSH key

Getting an SSH key was extremely frustrating, and I wished I had the Screambody Fab Academy project to yell into. I had previously created a GitHub repository, but I had not needed to use VSCode or create an SSH.

My journey is explained below, but here is what I now know I should have done.

  1. Step 1. Check your email for your Fab Academy access accounts!
  2. Step 2. Find your website through the Fab Academy website, content, your year, students, your Fab Lab, your name. In it there is a link to edit with GitLab. Click that link to go to your GitLab site. Then click projects. Under projects click Member. I saw a project named: "Academany / Fab Academy / 2026 / Fab Academy 2026 Labs / Charlotte Latin Fab Lab / Charlotte Latin Fab Lab students / Dorian Fritze".
  3. Step 3. Setting up GitLab repository. When prompted, "Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/dorianfritze/.ssh/id_ed25519):" hit enter

  4. Step 4. Clone the project to your local folder. Go to your project in GitLab. Then click the blue Code button, and copy the URL under "clone with ssh".

    cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

    Log into GitLab. Go to settings -> SSH Keys then paste the public key I had just copied from Terminal.

    Next test to see if the connection is working by using this command in Terminal:

    ssh -T git@gitlab.fabcloud.org

    If it worked I would see, "Welcome to GitLab, @dorian-fritze!"

  5. Step 5. Configure git so that your name and email is connected with your commits.

    git config user.name "dorian-fritze"
git config user.email "user.email@gmail.com"

Problems

These were my main problems:

  1. Not remembering there had been an email sent with my account details.
  2. Not having up to date instructions to follow that explained each step to someone with no prior knowledge of the terminology, and none of the required software installed.
  3. Multiple avenues to tutorials from Fab Academy that do not lead to the same place. I felt like I was running through a maze with many wrong turns. Student documentation was not very reliable either, and there are too many students to choose from. Expert Network Map may have been useful, but I was so intimidated by everything I couldn't bring myself to try it. I tried so many things that I have 2 ssh keys linked to my GitLab repository, created at least 1 personal project repository that is not the correct one for class, and cloned that incorrect project page to my personal computer. Which caused days of confusion, and all my mkdocs work to be in the wrong repository.
  4. Time management. I did not balance my work and sleep schedule well this past week. I learned a lot, but feel I could have learned 75% faster if I chose better tutorials. The other 25% I didn't need to know, because the information is out dated. It wasn't until Tuesday morning that Tom Dubick, my instructor, and I found the problem. This only left me half a day to turn my documentation into html format, and figure out how to add it to my website.
  5. Non-optimal workstation. I have been working on my MacBook, and the screen is too small to have multiple windows open at the same time and still be able to read the font.
  6. Mkdocs. I ran through the mkdocs setup and tutorial, and while I understood the formatting, I didn't understand how to make the document accept the commands.

Solutions

  1. I saved my account details in a place that is easy for me to remember.
  2. Mr. Dubick had me download Claude.ai, he is my new best friend. Claude can break down each part of tutorial in terms I can understand. It has been very helpful to be able to ask Claude without the fear of looking silly for not having known something. I had hoped that would have outgrown the fear of embarrassment in front of peers, but it seems any form of classroom where you lack confidence makes you feel like a middle schooler again.
  3. The Version control & GitLab recitation by Julian Gallimore on Monday was extremely helpful. Of course it would have been better if I had clicked on the correct zoom link, and showed up on time. I now have both zoom links saved in an easy to find google doc that is shared with my fellow CLS classmates. Also, having the slides to the recitation last week would have been a great help. The Saturday session did help as well, but I could not articulate my issue well enough to ask for help.
  4. Time management will be my biggest struggle. I want to know why something worked, and why it didn't. The notes I take on my trials are detailed, and not organized in a way that other people can follow. They are typically on paper, and it is time consuming to organize my thoughts into html form. I would like to explore AI to help digitize and organize my notes. I need to work on hard stops, and the pomodoro technique that was mentioned in last week's class, to prevent sleepless nights. Angela Horstman showed me codepen.io/pen/ and w3schools.com to help my html coding. Tom Dubick also suggested wordhtml.com and Claude.ai. I have been trying to keep my notes in .pages documents so I would be able to upload them when I got my gitlab to push to my website. Hopefully the programs Angela and Tom suggested will help me transcribe my documents efficiently. Also my spelling is atrocious, and there is no way I can type into vs code directly without first using a spell check program.
  5. My new best friend Claude.ai and I went on a shopping spree. I now have a 32" monitor, an awesome keyboard, and mouse. Claude was very helpful explaining which of my options at the open box store would work best for my needs, and flat out told me not to get a few choices. Claude then advised me not to get the cheap keyboard and mouse, liking it to putting cheap tires on a sports car. I drive a minivan, but I could see the point.
  6. Week 2 class open time solved my MKdocs problem! All I needed to do was save the file with a .md ending!

Continuing Problems

  1. How can I get a template of a sample website? If I can figure out how to get one of the templates I heard mentioned over this past week, I think I can alter it in vs code. I just can't figure out how to get the template to my repository. This link was added to the chat in the Saturday help session: Fab Academy Templates. I can pull it up, but don't understand what to do next. Hopefully I will be able to use it in the future. On the bright side, I am learning a lot about html!
  2. Time management, this will always be a problem.
  3. Scope creep and perfectionism. My therapist is trying her best to help, but it is an ongoing project.

Machines and Software Used

(Unfortunately, I can't tell you what each does, yet, but I had to download everything I was told to download in tutorials, and everything the tutorials said should be on my computer already.)

  • MacBook Pro
  • Terminal - the command line of your computer. (What Neo uses to hack the Matrix. That was a reference to the 1999 film, "The Matrix.")
  • GitLab - the cloud based storage system that holds our fab academy files, from which we publish our websites aka GitLab Pages
  • Python - a programming language my sister was required to learn, but I never did.
  • pip - (Pip Installs Package) packages are python codes that have already been created, that can be used and edited using pip
  • mkdocs - turns markdown files, .md, into websites more simply than html code. (I really hope I figure it out soon, because it looks way better than html.) Markdown is a programming language like html.
  • claude.ai - an AI program that is a valuable tool in explaining course material. Like a tutor. See below for my html comic strip that Claude and I created.
  • "Create and Add your SSH key to GitLab" YouTube tutorial by @Gitlab
  • mkdocs getting started (mkdocs tutorial)
  • wordhtml.com - converts your document typing into html format
  • codepen.io/pen - a website that allows you to preview your html code as it would appear on the website
  • w3schools.com - helpful site for everything html

Tutorials, Examples, and Helpful People

Helpful people:

  • Tom Dubick, instructor of CLS Fab Academy
  • David Taylor, instructor of CLS Fab Academy
  • Garrett Nelson, graduate of CLS Fab Academy in 2022
  • Angela Horstman, student of CLS Fab Academy

Not So Helpful Tutorials

The Rabbit Hole

Click to trace my path down the rabbit hole as I tried to understand this week's assignment. Don't follow in my footsteps.

Other Digressions

My Claude comic created by claude.ai from a detailed prompt by me:

The Programming Tutor
1
Mr. D: Dorian, you are really struggling. I am going to have Claude tutor you.
2
Dorian: But isn't he dangerous? I heard he was in juvie for stealing.
Mr. D: Nonsense, he took a year off for a software design internship.
3
Dorian: Thank you for coming to help me.
4
// Comment int x = 5;
Claude: The // just means a comment.
5
Wow, he explains so clearly!
6
A
Mr. D: Great job!
7
★ * *